RUEHS, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH°

RUEHS, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH° (1781–1820), nationalist professor of history and Scandinavian studies in Berlin. After the Congress of *Vienna, he opposed Jewish emancipation in a pamphlet entitled Ueber die Ansprueche der Juden an das deutsche Buergerrecht, which was answered by Michael *Hess, Saul *Ascher, and others. In this work, Ruehs maintains that Jewry already constitutes a nation complete with laws and aristocracy (rabbis) and therefore cannot be granted citizenship in a Christian state. An unbridgeable gap exists between Germans and Jews, stemming from their inherently opposing natures. Jews may be tolerated only as a subject nation and the medieval restrictions must be reapplied. The basic characteristics of Judaism being arrogance, authoritarianism, and abhorrence of work, only full conversion makes a Jew fit for equality. While Ruehs believed himself to be objective and free of prejudice, he took pride in never having had any social contact whatsoever with Jews. J.F. *Fries published a favorable review of his work.